The blocks will keep their shape, but might look strange if placed on a block that is very different from the one it was created on. I tried my last home in a different position and the driveway (among other things) were really weird. Sometimes just using the soften terrain tool around the edges can fix any discrepancies.

Been trying to improve my building skills as late, and lo and behold this little diddy manifested. Call it Sea Side Shack, styled in those contemporary fixer-uppers on that little island twinbrook.

Most compelling feature I think is this glass walkway connecting the front of the lot to the front door and back porch, via tunneling underneath the second story porch.

the floor plan is pretty symmetrical in design. Front rooms and the loft have a nice brown and fluorescent orange color scheme, kitchen exhibits the most ostentatious shade of lime green I could ever possibly imagine. The bathroom is beige and predictable.

Aaaand second story bedroom in loft style.

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Oh, sweet irony, deliver me from coincidence.

Please feel free to utilize any of my builds in any of your stories and so forth.

You did an awesome job TommyT. I am having trouble with building for some reason. Maybe brain block, not sure.

What works for me is taking my time and trying different things. Like for this house I told myself "bathrooms everywhere and minimal symmetry" which sounds like a weird phrase, but worked out rather well for this project. Just pick a couple ideas you wouldn't normally try and capitalize on them. This house took me about 2 weeks to build because I find myself getting burned out if I spend more than an hour a day on one build. There are literally hundreds of great houses in the same vein as mine on the Exchange, so being unique is really the only way to set one's home apart from the others (I have a nice surprise in store for my next house ).

Thanks Tommy. To say the least, the attention to exterior was no LESS than excruciating. I like to think I can decorate a room just fine. My biggest problem has always been making the building itself... not look ugly. Lol.

Totally agree with you, though. Committing to a kind of "mission" when building really does push you through! When building the shack, I was so worried about it looking identical to all the other island houses... A two story with an extension. Then suddenly, "windowed patios," and I was set.

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Oh, sweet irony, deliver me from coincidence.

Please feel free to utilize any of my builds in any of your stories and so forth.

Having trouble settling into your thrilling new hobo adventure? Well, then the DDS [Delightfully Dilapidated Shack] is the home for you!

This humble collection of wooden planks and furniture-like trash heaps is sure to ease the burdens of your new life of vagrancy!

The heinous red substance splattered across the toilet is sure to provide hours of guessing game fun! And besides, lock-jaw builds character!

The path to your ultimate destiny standard on all models!

So what are you waiting for? Put your standards out to pasture, and make DDS your home!

Hahaha, this is actually a lil' tomb I put together, that I thought you might enjoy. There's no narrative to it at present, though, although it's based around two family members, an inventor and his robot who were ostracized by the town and are now homeless, discovering their destiny in this tomb.

The last screenshot is your hint on how to get into the tomb, it's up to you from there! Hope you have fun, it's pretty easy, once you figure out the key mechanic.

Solstice

I'm totally a fan of the "rundown shack" look danefaith. I really like your lot and you did very well in conveying that whilst being minimalistic

Creepy old houses, junk & clutter, rundown distressed decaying look and country kitsch are totally my cup of tea when it comes to building. Having said that though, TommyT's modern home for Pam is really inspiring (I love your lot TommyT) and I'd like to try my hand at building a modern house, which I've never ever really tried before (even when playing TS2) so will post pics of that when it transpires.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a few screenies of a lot I've started to build for one of my sims. It's just the outside at the moment, which isn't that finished yet either. I've still got the backyard and the front side passageway to do, plus the rooms inside the house. I'll post more screenies eventually as I go along.

As I'm relatively new to TS3 and as yet not comfortable with implementing custom content within my game, especially that the game in general is still temperamental with bugs and such, I build without the use of cc and make the most of the meshes and the textures that the basegame, with it's EPs & SPs, have to offer. So I apologise in advance if my screenies and future ones that will be posted might have items in it that may look repetitive.

Solstice I am very much a fan of your house so far. The outside is just beautiful! I like that the top level has a different outside paint job to the bottom - it looks real professional. And how did you get the statue to be covered in moss?

Danefaith, I'll have to download your house and explore the tomb. I'll let you know how I find it.

Solstice, I love your courtyard idea! I didn't know I wanted one until I saw yours. I particularly like your use of tile to define the courtyard space. I will definitely download this home when you're finished. I'd be happy to get it unfurnished if you finish the outside first. What size lot is it?

In real life I live in a town with spanish/mediterranean-styled homes and buildings. I'd love to make one at some point, but the building materials available in the game don't really fit with that.

I've seen mention of finding inspiration in home plans found online. I'd like to try that, but I can never find a key to the symbols used, so I can't read them. It seems that each site should provide a key.

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I put tape on the mirrors in my house so I don't accidentally walk through into another dimension. -- Steven Wright

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. -- George Carlin

Here's a prison/asylum themed 'hotel' that I use as a community lot. I built it pre-ambitions and I went to work on it today and realized I have no desire to finish it lol. The construction is totally done except for creating rooms on the third floor. Could definitely use some landscaping in back and also half of the second and all of the third floor are unfurnished, but the bread-and-butter stuff is all set. 16 bedrooms on the ground floor, 2 executive suites on second floor, 2 rec rooms, staff lounge, 2 dining rooms and 2 large kitchens. There's hidden stairs in the backyard to go to the 'dungeon' area, not furnished or mapped out just something that some of you may like It's supposed to go right next to the waterfall in SV, some townies stay here for days since it meets all of a Sim's basic needs.

Can I ask, what exactly is CC? I just assumed that it was only custom made things downloaded from different sims sites, but does it also include things from the sims3.com exchange? What about if I changed the colour of a wood while making my house and saved it as a new wood, would that count as CC? Because I love doing that...

Pally~ No worries, what you're doing is fine. CC is usually when someone has created an entirely new item or clothing or hair style using their own programing skills. If you have to download a mesh or some other such thing from a third-party site (ie. not from The Sims 3 official site) then chances are you're dealing with some CC. Sometimes CC makes it onto The Exchange, like for instance that doll that people are talking about that's corrupted a whole bunch of houses there. CC can really mess up your game, because it's added programming that wasn't originally intended by EA. Which is why we don't endorse it, and why we don't want any houses shared here that include it.

And oh yeah, my previous tomb upload ended up having a missing keystone and a few unlocked doors I forgot to relock/replace after my test run. My fix up is here: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=2848700 Hope no one was inconvenienced for too long, trying to find that key! Lol.

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Oh, sweet irony, deliver me from coincidence.

Please feel free to utilize any of my builds in any of your stories and so forth.